scholarly journals Neighbourhood cohesion and territorial cohesion: in search for conceptual integrity

GeoJournal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz Damurski
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Functional Balance ◽  
Spatial Policy ◽  
Territorial Cohesion ◽  
Critical Revision

AbstractNeighbourhood cohesion is a concept describing the residents’ sense of community, engagement in acts of neighbouring, and attractiveness of living in the neighbourhood. Since 2000’s the term ‘cohesion’ has also been used in geography and in spatial policy to represent the distribution of functions and opportunities in space. The two approaches seem be complementary, but they lack consistency and appropriate conceptual framework. This paper aims at developing an integrated methodological framework which will include both social and spatial aspects of cohesion at the local level. Its empirical content refers to studies conducted in 2017–2019 in five locations in Poland. Three methods of spatial analysis are presented depicting various aspects of territorial cohesion of a neighbourhood: functional balance, accessibility of facilities and match between supply and demand. Such approach enables effective measurement and comparison of neighbourhoods representing various settlement types. The results show that the highest levels of cohesion were obtained for large cities where the density of amenities is the highest, and the lowest levels were noted in suburban settlements which confirms their malfunctioning character. The paper concludes with a critical revision of the concept of neighbourhood cohesion which can serve as a guideline for local urban policy.

scholarly journals Pedestrian accessibility of services as a measure of territorial cohesion at the neighbourhood level

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (49) ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
Łukasz Damurski ◽  
Jacek Pluta ◽  
Wawrzyniec Zipser
Keyword(s):  
Research Method ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Regional Policies ◽  
Neighbourhood Level ◽  
Territorial Cohesion ◽  
Neighbourhood Scale ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Pedestrian Accessibility

AbstractTerritorial cohesion, despite its initial ambiguity, has been successfully implemented in national and regional policies across the EU. However, its operationalisation on the local level remains a major challenge. This paper asks whether pedestrian accessibility of services and public transport nodes can be used as a measure of territorial cohesion at the local level. The presented research was conducted in 2016–19 in five neighbourhoods in Poland representing various settlement contexts: large cities, mediumsized towns and suburban areas. It adapted particular indicators of territorial cohesion established by ESPON to the neighbourhood scale. The highest levels of territorial cohesion expressed by users’ satisfaction were achieved in a neighbourhood in a medium-sized town, whereas in geographical terms, territorial cohesion reached higher levels in large cities. Despite those differences, the proposed research method based on pedestrian accessibility offers quantifiable and comparable results on territorial cohesion on the neighbourhood level.

Incentives for the development of industrial parks (on the example of the border regions of Poland)

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-87
Author(s):  
Yaroslava Kalat
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Cost Minimization ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Financial Assistance ◽  
Industrial Park ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
Industrial Parks ◽  
Spatial Policy

In the search for efficient decisions directed at the stimulation of regional development and improvement of regions’ innovativeness and investment attractiveness, the EU regions have long ago started paying attention to local communities. In particular, Polish local governments are granted an opportunity to conduct an active spatial policy of investment attraction using various instruments. In this context, the industrial parks play an important role among the created institutes of the business environment, because they create advantages for local communities and businesses. In particular, they promote investment attraction, entrepreneurship activation, employment and jobs increase, material cost minimization, etc. At the same time, the development of entrepreneurship environment institutes requires support at national, regional, and local levels. The development will be almost impossible without the creation of proper legal, political, economic, and social conditions for their activity. The paper aims to define major stimuli of industrial park development based on the Polish experience, the economic structure of which is similar to the Ukrainian one. This will contribute to the development of the ways to boost industrial park development in Ukraine, especially in the border areas. For the matter, the author outlines the major instruments used by Polish local communities to boost investment and entrepreneurship activity in the framework of industrial park development. The scientific paper emphasizes the analysis of legislation on creation, functioning, and support of Polish industrial park development, and further perspectives of their activity. Special attention is paid to general characteristics of the condition of industrial parks located in Polish border regions. The advantages of each of them are determined and examples of their creation and development are given. The research resulted in the allocation of two groups of stimuli of industrial parks development which are the precondition, according to the author, of industrial parks becoming the instrument of investment attraction, economic boost of the territories, and entrepreneurship activity growth: the stimuli of development of industrial parks’ organizational structure (public financial assistance; information and advisory support; grans of European funds; international cooperation / partnership; independent spatial policy at the local level) and the stimuli of entrepreneurship development in industrial parks (infrastructure (physical and soft); public financial assistance; tax incentives; investment grants; financial loans).

Challenges of local water governance: the extent, nature and intensity of local water-related conflict and cooperation

Water Policy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helle Munk Ravnborg ◽  
Rocio Bustamante ◽  
Abdoulaye Cissé ◽  
Signe M. Cold-Ravnkilde ◽  
Vladimir Cossio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
Local Water

This article presents the results of comprehensive inventories made of water-related conflict and cooperation occurring in five districts in Africa, Asia and Latin America between 1997 and 2007. Following a description of the conceptual and methodological framework developed for undertaking these inventories, the article documents the extent, nature and intensity of water-related conflict and cooperation in the five districts. The article concludes by identifying three challenges relating to the magnitude, complexity and invisibility of local-level conflict and cooperation about water, which efforts to improve local water governance would have to address.

scholarly journals Generational Changes in Agriculture: The Influence of Farm Characteristics and Socio-Economic Factors

Agriculture ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Sroka ◽  
Michał Dudek ◽  
Tomasz Wojewodzic ◽  
Karol Król
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Generational Changes ◽  
Exogenous Factors ◽  
The Impact

The increasing importance of large cities (metropolises) poses a range of challenges to the socio-economic functions of the rural and agricultural areas around them. One such challenge is pressure exerted on family-run farms to abandon agricultural activity and on people engaged in such activity to shift to other sectors. This may be a hindrance to successful succession on family farms. The aim of this paper is to present spatial variation in generational changes in farms located around large cities (metropolises) in Poland and to assess the factors affecting the scale of such changes. Special attention was paid to the importance of the location of farms relative to large cities. One innovative feature of the approach presented was to conduct an analysis of generational changes in the agricultural sector at the supra-local level along with an attempt to quantify the impact of large urban centers on that process. The empirical material based on which the conclusions were formulated included official statistics data and information made available by an institution engaged in the implementation of agricultural policy programs financed from European Union (EU) funds, i.e., young farmer payments (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) pillar I) and measures “Setting up of young farmers” and “Early retirement” (CAP Pillar II). In the executed study, methods of descriptive and multivariate statistics, including regression trees, were used. It was found that socio-economic (exogenous) factors had a significant statistical impact on generational changes in farms. In areas with an attractive labor market and a high level of urbanization, a successful generational shift in farms occurred less often. Nonetheless, generational changes in the agriculture of the analyzed areas were relatively most strongly determined by endogenous factors linked with the economic potential of the farm. Farm characteristics (area of agricultural land and economic size) and the characteristics of managers, including in particular their education, were found to be more important than exogenous factors. In areas where large and economically strong farms dominated and the level of education among farmers was relatively high, generational changes were faster compared to other areas.

scholarly journals The Dynamic Relationship between Immigrant Politics and Urban Policy Making: Protecting the Rights of Undocumented Immigrants in Boston and Amsterdam

2020 ◽  
pp. 107808742094460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emil Christian van Eck
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Undocumented Immigrants ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Fields ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Immigrant Rights ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Citizenship Regimes ◽  
Immigrant Politics

With the advancement of comparative studies within the field of immigration and sociopolitical movements, scholars have attempted to understand how politico-institutional contexts influence the mobilization strategies of immigrant rights organizations at the local level. In this article, I make use of a field approach to explain how these organizations face different group-and issue-specific conditions regarding their involvement in local policy-making processes. Empirically, I examine the advocacy work of immigrant rights organizations in their aim to protect the rights of undocumented immigrants in Boston (USA) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands). By approaching power and resistance as relational phenomena, the results indicate that the intersection of distinct institutional and organizational mechanisms has differently impacted the local fields of immigrant politics. Taking different routes, in both cities immigrant rights organizations have found ways to constitute an affirmative institutional and discursive counterpower that challenges the national exclusionary citizenship regimes from the ground.

scholarly journals Innovation Dynamics of Socio-Technical Alignment in Community Energy Storage: The Cases of DrTen and Ecovat

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binod Prasad Koirala ◽  
Ellen van Oost ◽  
Henny van der Windt
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Responsible Innovation ◽  
Technical Innovation ◽  
Local Energy ◽  
Innovation Dynamics ◽  
Storage Technologies

With energy transition gaining momentum, energy storage technologies are increasingly spotlighted as they can effectively handle mismatches in supply and demand. The decreasing cost of distributed energy generation technologies and energy storage technologies as well as increasing demand for local flexibility is opening up new possibilities for the deployment of energy storage technologies in local energy communities. In this context, community energy storage has potential to better integrate energy supply and demand at the local level and can contribute towards accommodating the needs and expectations of citizens and local communities as well as future ecological needs. However, there are techno-economical and socio-institutional challenges of integrating energy storage technologies in the largely centralized present energy system, which demand socio-technical innovation. To gain insight into these challenges, this article studies the technical, demand and political articulations of new innovative local energy storage technologies based on an embedded case study approach. The innovation dynamics of two local energy storage innovations, the seasalt battery of DrTen® and the seasonal thermal storage Ecovat®, are analysed. We adopt a co-shaping perspective for understanding innovation dynamics as a result of the socio-institutional dynamics of alignment of various actors, their articulations and the evolving network interactions. Community energy storage necessitates thus not only technical innovation but, simultaneously, social innovation for its successful adoption. We will assess these dynamics also from the responsible innovation framework that articulates various forms of social, environmental and public values. The socio-technical alignment of various actors, human as well as material, is central in building new socio-technical configurations in which the new storage technology, the community and embedded values are being developed.

From the global to the local? Governance and development at the local level: reflections from Tanzania

2008 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Financial Management ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Governance Reform ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Central State ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
District Government

ABSTRACTGovernance reform practice has mostly focused on building up and transforming central state institutions. Furthermore, the politics of aid has often constructed a very ‘introverted’ politics based in large cities. This article explores the means through which governance ideas are implemented outside this ‘governance realm’, by looking at the ways in which the Lushoto District government in Tanzania has mediated a range of policy changes that have emanated from the state/donor centre. Identifying three distinct but inter-related repertoires of political practice, it argues that governance at the local level has been largely about financial management, and that this aspect of reform is in tension with local developmentalism and is more starkly opposed to local veranda politics.

scholarly journals Urban Policy in Times of Crisis: The Policy Capacity of European Cities and the Role of Multi-Level Governance

2021 ◽  
pp. 107808742110417
Author(s):  
Roberta Cucca ◽  
Costanzo Ranci
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Policy Capacity ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Multi Level

This article investigates how the policy capacity of urban governments in Europe to deal with the social challenges caused by the 2008-2009 financial crisis, has been strongly shaped by the institutional multi-level governance (MLG) settings in which cities were embedded. We consider the financial crisis as an important ‘stress test’ for urban policy. Urban governments faced a highly complex, trilemmatic situation: they faced not only growing social and economic problems at the local level, but also a process of devolution of institutional responsibility from central to local governments, and important cuts in central funding. Our analysis is based on an empirical investigation carried out between 2009 and 2016 in six major European cities: Barcelona, Copenhagen, Lyon, Manchester, Milan, and Munich. What clearly emerges from the research is that European cities may still show a certain capacity to innovate and govern economic changes and social challenges only if supported by an enabling MLG system.

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